Dropping the Beat
Feb. 27th, 2020 12:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glitch25Had the lovely opportunity to attend Wintergrass in Bellevue again this year over the weekend. I really enjoy the chance to see new-to-me acts and spend some time steeping in both the Bluegrass tradition as well as music that is adjacent. Wintergrass has always been good about bringing in diverse music that gently or not so gently rubs up against Bluegrass to the festival, and it has been a fun jumping off point to discover new music.
One of the things I've come to realize about how I perceive and enjoy music is that most of the time, unless for some reason it has been brought to my attention otherwise, I interact with music through its rhythm and beat. I live in the rhythm section. This fact has impacted me a bit with regards to my choices of instruments to play music. :-)
One of the consequences of this is that most of the time, it takes a long time for lyrics to penetrate and for me to appreciate the song lyrically. And I can say with regards to popular music, there are times when the lyrics don't penetrate at all. This is how I justiy having the "Humpty Dance" on one of my go-to playlists. Love the beat and structure, and I don't really pay attention to the lyrics.. which is both good and bad. I find this happens with several songs with questionable lyrics, and I think I decided that my solution to that problem, if I am really attached to the song, is to find karaoke tracks.
On first hearing of a new song during a live performance, the first verse and chorus are wasted on me. I don't typially even begin engaging the chorus until the 3rd time through. If it grabs me, then I seem to open up to the verses. Amidst all this apparent obliviousness, I'e already broken down the rhythm and meter and am often admiring or even improvising drum and bass fills.
Consequently, I live in a different world than most of my friends and loved ones. Makes it kinda interesting when we go out for music. One of the things I love about music is that we each seem to hae our own way of interacting with it, and when we get together to share it, we collectively bring interesting and diverse perspectives to one another.
How do you take in and interact with music?
One of the things I've come to realize about how I perceive and enjoy music is that most of the time, unless for some reason it has been brought to my attention otherwise, I interact with music through its rhythm and beat. I live in the rhythm section. This fact has impacted me a bit with regards to my choices of instruments to play music. :-)
One of the consequences of this is that most of the time, it takes a long time for lyrics to penetrate and for me to appreciate the song lyrically. And I can say with regards to popular music, there are times when the lyrics don't penetrate at all. This is how I justiy having the "Humpty Dance" on one of my go-to playlists. Love the beat and structure, and I don't really pay attention to the lyrics.. which is both good and bad. I find this happens with several songs with questionable lyrics, and I think I decided that my solution to that problem, if I am really attached to the song, is to find karaoke tracks.
On first hearing of a new song during a live performance, the first verse and chorus are wasted on me. I don't typially even begin engaging the chorus until the 3rd time through. If it grabs me, then I seem to open up to the verses. Amidst all this apparent obliviousness, I'e already broken down the rhythm and meter and am often admiring or even improvising drum and bass fills.
Consequently, I live in a different world than most of my friends and loved ones. Makes it kinda interesting when we go out for music. One of the things I love about music is that we each seem to hae our own way of interacting with it, and when we get together to share it, we collectively bring interesting and diverse perspectives to one another.
How do you take in and interact with music?
(no subject)
Date: 2020-02-28 10:46 am (UTC)I appreciate melody and harmonies.
Subtle rhythms or innovative riffs are pretty much wasted on me, but I do like me a good bass line, though it might take me a lot of listens to realize it is there. I have a hard time hearing individual instruments. Lyrics are what I get first.
It has repeatedly happened to me that I said something as a reaction or comment to a song that was currently playing and the other person said “oh, I was not paying attention to the words” which usually has me very confused.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-02-28 11:26 pm (UTC)I love having folks play me or give me music, so I can increase my knowledge and the songs I can then add to my own compilations, which I still make and burn onto CD, as the 80 minutes format forces me to cull and choose carefully those songs that I really want.